Something Rotten

Summary

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Bone Valley – Season 3, Episode 6: "Something Rotten"

Date: October 15, 2025
Host: Maggie Freleng
Podcast: Bone Valley (Lava for Good Podcasts)

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Episode Overview

In "Something Rotten," Maggie Freleng delves deep into the systemic failures and corruption that tainted the investigation into the murder of Jessica Curran in Graves County, Kentucky. The episode explores how rumors, police misconduct, and unreliable witnesses led to the wrongful convictions of Quincy Cross, Tamara Caldwell, and Jeff Burton. Freleng scrutinizes the role of key figures, including journalist Tom Mangold and amateur investigator Susan Galbraith, while painting a devastating picture of what happens when truth gets lost amid incompetence and the desperation for closure. The episode is a sobering look at the personal costs of injustice, revealing shattered families and lingering questions after decades of searching for answers.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Challenging Old Narratives & Journalistic Responsibility

• Maggie contacts veteran journalist Tom Mangold (02:53–04:08) regarding his reporting on Quincy Cross’s conviction and points out how his articles ignored critical recantations and shifting narratives from the prosecution's key witness, Victoria Caldwell.
  • Quote:

    "Any publication or broadcast in the United States which infers I may have behaved unprofessionally ... will of course, be instantly sued for both libel ... Now, please don’t pester me any further. All you batty conspiracy theorists are the same." —Tom Mangold (04:05)

• Discussion of Mangold's mentorship of Susan Galbraith who became the case’s citizen-sleuth, eventually playing a significant role in the prosecution’s theory and witness discovery (04:22–05:45).
  • Quote:

    "We used my room at the somewhat humble Mayfield Super 8 Motel as an office ... She became my trainee cub reporter." —Tom Mangold (04:51)

2. The Fallout of Flawed Investigations

• Tom Mangold’s pursuit of a movie deal about the case and the "odd couple" story with Susan Galbraith illustrates media fascination with true crime, regardless of accuracy, and the long-term impact on communities (05:45–06:19).
• Freleng tackles the lasting effects of erroneous reporting and “truth-making” by both the prosecution and the press, emphasizing that key witness testimonies have since been recanted (06:19–07:44).
  • Reflective Questions:

    "Shouldn't it take more than the word of a few girls or the theories of an amateur sleuth for a journalist to make such ruinous accusations against everyday citizens? ... Who do we hold accountable when their whole case falls apart?" —Maggie Freleng (06:53)

3. Human Cost: Stories of the Convicted

• Emotional toll on Jeff Burton:
  • Quote:

    "...this whole thing is my whole life's been like an out of body experience I can't even explain. Like an emotional fucking wreck that I have not been able to overcome. My trust in people is... like, low now." (07:54)

• Tamara Caldwell and Quincy Cross’s stories are threaded throughout, showing how wrongful convictions tear apart families, aspirations, and a sense of safety.

4. Police Corruption & Public Distrust

• Freleng returns to the year 2000 to examine how law enforcement disorder in Mayfield, Kentucky set the case on a path toward failure (12:04–16:11).
• Tim Fortner’s failed investigation and fear:
  • Direct testimony from Jessica’s father about Detective Fortner’s admission of incompetence and being "set up to fail," and his fear of someone (possibly police leadership) (13:00–13:48).
• Assistant Chief Ronnie Lear’s pervasive influence:
  • Reputed as "crooked," his name recurs in interviews, police files, and community rumors (15:52–16:11).
    • Quote:

      "Let me tell you something. These police around here are so corrupt, it's not even funny." —Private Investigator Noble Faulkner (15:52)

  • Allegations against Lear include theft from the evidence room, misuse of city funds, sexual harassment, and concealed evidence (20:01–22:06).
  • After official investigations, Lear evades lasting legal consequence, moves to Alabama, but his conduct leaves irreversible stains on the case (22:25–23:23).

5. Rumors vs. Reality: The Power of Gossip

• Maggie and her team unravel how hearsay filled the vacuum left by police failure, leading to widespread suspicion—including persistent rumors about Ronnie Lear’s involvement (24:09–25:19; 26:54–27:36).
  • Quote:

    "Gossip is the gospel in the South, baby girl." —Dara Wolman (27:20)

• Even the victim’s father, Joe Curran, grapples with doubt, saying,

  "Most people that I talk to that's around here feel like he is, but I don't know." (27:44)

6. The Tangled Pursuit of Closure

• Closure as a myth:
  • Quote:

    "You survive it. You never get over it. Don't let nobody ever tell you you get closure because you're going to always miss a person like that the rest of your life." —Joe Curran (29:38)

7. New Hope: Fresh Evidence and Legal Developments

• Recap of new legal maneuvers:
  • Lawyer turnover (Miranda Hellman leaves the Kentucky Innocence Project), leaving Quincy's fight for freedom in flux (33:07–33:49).
  • Results from ink testing on a crucial diary suggest key evidence was fabricated post-crime (35:41–35:59).
  • DNA testing of forensic samples excludes all three convicted people (36:35–37:15).
    • Quote:

      “There is no evidence, there is no physical evidence that put Quincy nowhere near this girl.” —Jeff Burton (37:08)

  • Quincy Cross, maintaining his innocence, expresses relief as long-obscured truths come to light (37:39).

8. Lingering Effects on the Wrongfully Convicted

• Tamara and Jeff, now free but with records, struggle to regain normalcy—limited work opportunities, broken relationships, and enduring trauma (40:18–43:49).
  • Tamara:

    "Even though you had five and a half years of your life taken away, you still think you're lucky?"
    "Yep. Yep. Sure do. I'm here for a reason. God ain't through with me yet." (43:49)

• Quincy’s family, especially his father David, clings to hope but fears running out of time (44:12–44:48).
  • Quote:

    "The only fear I got, that I won’t live to see Quincy walk out of prison. That's my only fear in life." —David Cross (44:48)

• Recollections of family life and memories underscore what’s been lost and what loved ones continue to hold onto (45:09–47:13).

9. The Lasting Impact of Tainted Investigations

• Freleng closes by underscoring how corruption and incompetence didn’t just target these three individuals, but corroded the entire community’s faith in justice:
  • Quote:

    "But what I do know is that the incompetence and corruption from Ronnie Lear and his police department tainted the investigation into Jessica's death from the start ... prosecutors under pressure to close an eight year old case pushed to get a conviction at all costs, ignoring the fact that the truth may actually be impossible to find." (28:33–29:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tom Mangold’s defensive response: "All you batty conspiracy theorists are the same." (04:08)
• Jeff Burton on incarceration: "Just being away from the people that you love." (08:16)
• On police corruption: "There's all kinds of stories going around at the time and just nothing good. Nothing good for the Mayfield Police Department." —Michael Grice (18:12)
• Dara Wolman: "Gossip is the gospel in the South, baby girl." (27:20)
• Joe Curran's pain: "There is no such thing as closure." (29:38)
• On evidence: "There is no evidence, there is no physical evidence that put Quincy nowhere near this girl." —Jeff Burton (37:08)
• Quincy Cross: "I'm glad that the truth is coming now, you know what I'm saying? That does me some good. My heart to know that, you know, a lot of things that they were saying was just lies put in front of a jury." (37:39)
• Tamara Caldwell’s resilience: "Yep. Sure do. I'm here for a reason. God ain't through with me yet." (43:49)
• David Cross’s fear: "The only fear I got, that I won’t live to see Quincy walk out of prison." (44:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Mangold confrontation and his response: 02:53–04:08
• Tom and Susan’s collaboration and media angle: 04:22–05:45
• Police incompetence & Fortner's fears: 12:04–13:48
• Ronnie Lear allegations detailed: 20:01–23:23
• Town rumors and community suspicion: 16:11–18:49; 24:09–25:19
• Testing of new evidence (diary ink, DNA): 35:41–37:15
• Personal accounts and hope: 40:18–47:13

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Tone and Language

Throughout the episode, Maggie Freleng’s tone is relentless yet measured, balancing investigative rigor with empathy for those harmed. The language is candid, at times raw, especially when retelling the personal testimonies of the convicted and their families. There's a persistent drive to strip away myth and rumor in pursuit of facts, even when those facts remain elusive or incomplete.

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Final Thoughts

"Something Rotten" exposes not just a botched case, but an entire system willing to sacrifice truth—and human lives—on the altar of expediency. Maggie Freleng reminds listeners that behind headlines and verdicts are shattered families, irreparably harmed by the failures of those entrusted with justice. The episode asks: In a community where institutional rot runs deep, who will stand guard over the truth?

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Transcript

[Sophie Cunningham]

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[Jeff Burton]

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[Maggie Freeling]

This series contains graphic descriptions of violence.

[Jeff Burton]

This WI FI call will be charged.

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As per your international plan.

[Jeff Burton]

To continue. Please hold.

[Maggie Freeling]

After several of my emails to journalist Tom Mangold went unanswered, I found his phone number and gave him a call in March of 2025. Hi, is this Tom Mangold? I tell him I'm a journalist working on the Jessica Curran case. Yes, sir. So you did a series of stories about I say I'm covering how the prosecution's case against Quincy Cross seems to be falling apart and that according to emails my team and I have reviewed, it's clear he knew that the state's main witness, Victoria Caldwell, had recanted parts of the story against Quincy Cross, yet he still chose to publish his piece without any mention of her changing narratives and admitted lies.

He tells me he hasn't seen my emails. Thank you so much, sir Bye.

Tom Mangold did write back shortly after we hung up.

[Sophie Cunningham]

So he emailed.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah, I haven't read it. I need to open my computer. And I called up my producer, Rebecca, with the update.

[Jeff Burton]

What does he say?

[Maggie Freeling]

The email says.

Maggie, thanks for your note. The Quincy Cross is innocent movement in quotes has been running in Mayfield for many years. People have jumped on and off that bandwagon ever since Susan received her award from the state of Kentucky. I suggest you take the time and trouble to discuss the case with Bob o' Neill first, then go and get the transcripts of the court case and read the entire prosecution case. If you still think Cross is innocent, that's your conclusion as a journo.

[Advertisement Voice]

Okay.

[Maggie Freeling]

Bob o' Neill is the KBI agent who is still in touch with Victoria and who declined my interview request.

I reply to Tom and tell him I actually found his suggestion that I hadn't read all the documents patronizing. And then I offer him the opportunity to reflect on his work 20 years later, to which he shoots back.

[Advertisement Voice]

Any publication or broadcast in the United States which infers I may have behaved unprofessionally in the current murder will of course, be instantly sued for both libel.

[Maggie Freeling]

Both myself and the BBC.

[Advertisement Voice]

Now, please don't pester me any further. All you batty conspiracy theorists are the same.

[Maggie Freeling]

When I was first approached with Quincy Cross's case, many of the people fighting on his behalf told me that Susan Galbraith had played a key role in Quincy's conviction. That an everyday citizen helped craft the theory the prosecution used at trial and helped find their most important witness. And by Tom Mangold's own reporting, he played a big role in Susan's journey. From his very first trip to to Kentucky.

[Jeff Burton]

We used my room at the somewhat humble Mayfield Super 8 Motel as an office. We lived off toxic coffee, fried food, and some smuggled in sauvignon blanc. I became her news editor. She became my trainee cub reporter. I taught her my trade from the bottom up. I learned quite a bit from him. I learned how to not follow every rumor. I learned better from him how to distinguish rumor from fact. But it was a hard call in this case. We started a friendship and we became a team. And I felt an equal part of that team.

[Maggie Freeling]

Tom spoke publicly about how there was a lot of interest in making a movie about the odd couple who helped solve a murder. And according to the emails obtained by the Kentucky Innocence Project, Tom was pursuing a movie deal until at least 2018.

When Susan Galbraith died that year, her sister took over her estate for a few months. She wrote Tom about Susan's last days and about business. She talked about handling any future film deals. And Tom told Susan's sister that he would fight to keep the project alive. But eventually studios lost interest. That was probably for the best because knowing what we know today, it's fair to say they got this whole mur story wrong.

Tom is 90 years old now. He's had a storied career as a war correspondent and investigative journalist. He's faced down known gangsters and heads of state. I'm not looking to drag his life's work in the mud. But the story of Quincy Cross as the ringleader in this heinous crime is simply not borne out by the evidence. And the main witnesses to this alleged crime are now all on the record saying they lied.

Perhaps none of this is enough for Tom Mangle to say Quincy Cross shouldn't be in prison. But if he had agreed to talk to me, I would have asked him. Shouldn't it take more than the word of a few girls or the theories of an amateur sleuth for a journalist to make such ruinous accusations against everyday citizens? Shouldn't it take more for the state to put a man in prison for life? To take a mother from her children and a father from his family? How far are cops and prosecutors allowed to go in their pursuit of justice? And who do we hold accountable when their whole case falls apart?

These are questions that Tom refuses to answer, but that Jeff Burton, Tamara Caldwell and Quincy Cross live with every day.

[Jeff Burton]

For Me Personally, from 2007 up until now, this whole thing is my whole life's been like an out of body experience I can't even explain. Like an emotional fucking wreck that I have not been able to overcome. My trust in people is.

Like low now. I don't trust anybody.

I don't trust nobody really. You know, since I've been incarcerated, you know, I've been further educating myself on different things. But what I really want to do is to have a family business and take care of my family. Mostly I'm family oriented. I was raised that way. So that's what hurts the most, out of doing prison time for something you didn't do. Just being away from the people that you love.

[Maggie Freeling]

And what about Tom's heroine, Susan Galbraith? According to Tom's own reporting, she didn't get a triumphant ending. Sure, she got recognized by the Attorney General's office, but. But the people of Mayfield didn't hold her up as a hero. Susan ended up having to carry a gun for her own protection, and she even contemplated leaving Mayfield for good, moving back to Chicago. But she never did.

This is graves county chapter 6 something rotten.

[Sophie Cunningham]

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or osa, in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly, or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability and concentration issues, it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'tsleep on OSA.com this information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.

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[Maggie Freeling]

Foreign.

Before telling you what the future may hold for Quincy Cross, I'd like to take you back one last time to the summer of 2000 in Mayfield, Kentucky. Because even though I never set out to solve Jessica's case, I wanted to at least understand how the investigation went so far wrong. And in trying to answer that question, believe it or not, I found a common line of reporting with journalist Tom Mangold. Tom didn't just zero in on Quincy Cross. He also went after Mayfield law enforcement.

Earlier in the season. You heard about Tim Fortner, the rookie Mayfield police detective who led and bungled the first investigation into Jessica's death. He's the man who, according to Jessica's father, said this to his family, told.

[Jeff Burton]

Us, me and my wife, that he had no clue what he was doing. He didn't know what he was doing.

[Maggie Freeling]

But Joe Curran says Fortner didn't just admit incompetence he went on to imply that he'd been set up to fail.

[Jeff Burton]

He said, I don't know what I'm doing, and every place I go, it's like somebody's already been there before me. That's his words. So before his full tenure ended, they promoted him to assistant chief. And when he saw my wife at Walmart, he saw her and he started crying, and he said, I'm afraid for my life. And he said, I'm gonna move. And he moved to Murray. He moved a few miles down the road to another place and got a job there.

[Maggie Freeling]

What do you think he was afraid of?

[Jeff Burton]

I don't know who you're afraid of. When you're a police chief and have a badge and a gun, I don't know who you're afraid of. How could you be afraid?

[Maggie Freeling]

From what I've been able to gather, one of the people Fortner was afraid of was the assistant chief of police at the time of Jessica's death. Ronnie learned.

Ronnie Lear was the man who appointed Tim Fortner as lead detective in the case, Even though Fortner didn't know the first thing about investigating a homicide. And even though Fortner declined my interview request, I do have him on tape talking about his disdain for his former boss.

[Jeff Burton]

What's your opinion of Ronnie Lee right now?

[Maggie Freeling]

This is from a 2007 interview with the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation, or KBI.

[Jeff Burton]

My opinion of Ronnie is that he's. Which it's the same opinion as it has been that he's a son of a bitch for even giving this to me, because it's. It's been a total nightmare. And I've just never done anything such as investigated anything like. Especially this horrendous.

[Maggie Freeling]

Why wouldn't the assistant chief of police set this case up for success? It was Mayfield's first murder in more than a year. Jessica was a teenager, a new mom, and Lear knew Jessica's family. He came up in Mayfield with Joe Curran.

[Jeff Burton]

Actually, we had been playing basketball together a year or so before all of this. And he knew me. He knew me for a long time. And, uh, I worked at the fire department, he worked at the police department, and we kind of, you know, see cases together. And a lot of times, they go to a.

[Maggie Freeling]

From the second I started investigating this case, I've heard Ronnie Lear's name, like, in one of my first interviews with private investigator Noble Faulkner.

[Jeff Burton]

Let me tell you something. These police around here are so corrupt, it's not even funny.

[Maggie Freeling]

And Tamara Caldwell.

[Jeff Burton]

I've been hearing his name ever since we got to Mayfield in 93, everybody was scared to talk about him. Scared. You know, everybody brought up his name. He was just known to be corrupt.

[Maggie Freeling]

Ronnie Lear is mentioned in records about the case from the Kentucky State Police and even the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation.

Mostly people were saying he's crooked or worse. That's what Tim Fortner told the KBI in 2007.

[Jeff Burton]

And I don't know how. It's just my gut feeling, but I just feel like in some way, and I've said it from.

A long time, that he's involved in it. I've told my wife that. Involved in this case? Yes. Yes, sir. Especially.

[Maggie Freeling]

Why would Tim Fortner believe that.

[Jeff Burton]

You know, still emotionally is a red hot case in Mayfield?

[Maggie Freeling]

Michael Grice served a very short stint as chief for the Mayfield Police Department from 2004 to 2005 years after Ronnie Lear's tenure. Mayfield officials hired Grice after searching the country for months. He was a law enforcement veteran from Illinois with almost two decades of experience. He. He had the legitimacy Mayfield police desperately needed, especially after the failure with the Jessica Kern investigation.

[Jeff Burton]

When I started there, that was a past issue that nobody would talk about. And anybody that had anything to do with it denied having anything to do with. Was over time that I got some people to tell me, oh, yeah, I was there that night, or I did this or I did that, but they don't want to admit anything to do with the investigation. They didn't want to admit to having any part of the case itself.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Why?

[Jeff Burton]

Because it turned into such a shambles.

[Maggie Freeling]

After Mayfield detectives bungled the case. Grice says the town was abuzz with rumors of a police cover up. He spoke to my producer, Rebecca.

[Jeff Burton]

There was all kinds of stories going around at the time, and just nothing good. Nothing good for the Mayfield Police Department.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Who was telling these stories?

[Jeff Burton]

General public, you know, just out people in the field. You know, people would say, I heard that. I said, oh, yeah? Where'd you hear that? Well, you know, my cousin's grandson. You know, you get down the line of things, and there was no finite source that could ever be located to say, yeah, that's true.

[Maggie Freeling]

In listening back to old police interviews from Jessica's case, there was a sense around town that the cops had something to do with her death.

[Jeff Burton]

Somebody saying, it's a police sent them out there, do some dirty work or something. I don't know, sir. But mostly it was about the cops.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Was involved in it, that she was.

[Jeff Burton]

Messing with one of the cops. They got her pregnant. There's Something in this town, somebody knows, and people are afraid to talk. I don't know why.

[Maggie Freeling]

But I might know why. The top brass of Mayfield Law Enforcement had a reputation. People said they were involved in illegal dealings with some of the local drug runners. There were whispers that they sexually harassed local women and teens. Jessica, on the other hand, was dating a known drug dealer, and there were rumors that she was a drug informant, though that was later refuted. From what I can piece together, people took this information and let their imaginations fill in the blanks. And it didn't help that some of the rumors against the cops, including Ronnie Lear, turned out to be true.

Sometime after Jessica's murder, Ronnie Lear was suspended without pay for selling a VCR and stereo from the evidence room and pocketing the money. A dispatcher at the precinct had also claimed that Lear and one of his colleagues were misusing city funds, including money confiscated from drug arrests. The same dispatcher also claimed that Lear had coerced her into a sexual encounter and then threatened her to stay silent.

Then, several months after Jessica's death, Lear resigned. He told the press that he was leaving because his heart just wasn't in the job anymore. But the Mayfield mayor at the time, Wayne Potts, said Ronnie Lear tendered his resignation. Shortly after, Potts confronted him about the dispatcher's sexual harassment claims. And when officers cleared Lear's desk, they found around 80 baggies and foils of suspected crack cocaine, a few bags of suspected marijuana, and handguns that weren't police weapons or registered into evidence.

And all this malfeasance raised red flags for Tom Mangold, too.

[Jeff Burton]

Half the top echelon of Mayfield police had imploded with grubby little fiddles and corrupt practices. But it got worse for Lear.

[Maggie Freeling]

Mayor Potts died in 2019, but Tom spoke to him a few years before about Lear's reputation and the drugs in his desk.

[Jeff Burton]

My guess would be that he had taken them away from some of the street runners and said, hey, you know, you got drugs, I'm gonna put you in jail for five years. Or give me that bag of drugs and you hit the road running. Don't ever come back.

[Maggie Freeling]

Lear claimed that he was using the confiscated material for show and tell visits in the public schools. But Mayor Potts said he didn't buy it.

[Jeff Burton]

That's enough drugs to do half of Mayfield. The state police sent a special investigator in. He had worked drug investigations for years. He got into the accounting, the money, and he found where there was thousands of dollars taken.

[Maggie Freeling]

Lear and his boss, the Mayfield Chief of police were eventually indicted on felony charges of misusing public funds. But Lear cut a deal with prosecutors. He didn't get prison time. And because he stayed out of trouble for a few years, the felony has been erased from his permanent record. That means nosy journalists like me and Tom will never get the full story on the extent of his malfeasance.

When Lear left his job as assistant chief of police, he apologized to the community, paid some of the money back, and. And eventually moved to Alabama. He left law enforcement altogether and got a job at an insurance company. But Ronnie Lear's presence and the failures under his leadership lingered on in Jessica's case.

When the Kentucky State Police took over the investigation, they actually asked Ronnie Lear if he ever concealed information or was in any way connected to Jessica's death.

Ronnie Lear denied any involvement. He even agreed to take a polygraph. But that appears to never have happened.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Okay, so we got a big box in the mail.

[Maggie Freeling]

Rebecca and I requested Ronnie Lear's personnel file from 97 to 2003. Maybe we'd find a smoking gun connecting Lear to Jessica.

Lear joined Mayfield Police in 1990 and worked his way to assistant chief after a stint with the Army National Guard.

[Sophie Cunningham]

He is six two, brown hair, blue eyes. He's got a high school degree and an associate's.

[Maggie Freeling]

He's married with kids, a churchgoer, member.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Of Rotary Club, president of Mayfield and Graves County Child Advocacy Program.

[Maggie Freeling]

There's a lot of everyday paperwork in the box.

[Sophie Cunningham]

This is a payroll.

[Maggie Freeling]

There's receipts for travel reimbursements, certificates of completion from courses like Leadership for the New Century, insurance documents. And there's record of his disciplinary hearings that match up with what has been reported in the press. Like stealing a VCR from the evidence room. And a spattering of complaints going back to 97. But what catches our eye is what isn't there. No mention of the piles of drugs reportedly confiscated from his desk or the reported sexual harassment claim against him. And no mention of Jessica.

The allegations I've heard against Ronnie Lear go beyond misuse of funds and stealing evidence. Yet many of them have been made by the same unreliable witnesses that first implicated Jeremy Adams in the murder and then Quincy Cross.

According to the emails obtained by the Kentucky Innocence Project, Victoria Caldwell made a formal complaint against Lear to the Attorney General's office, and Tom Mangold followed up on her claims to no avail. The AG's office eventually told him that Victoria dropped the complaint, and Tom did not publish Victoria's claims.

We've reached out to the Kentucky Attorney General and the Kentucky State Police for any records they may have on Lear, hoping to confirm any further allegations of misconduct. But they either don't have them or haven't made them available to us. And Ronnie Lear hasn't agreed to an interview.

[Jeff Burton]

Case fully solved. Hmm. Sometimes I wonder whether there's still something rotten in Mayfield.

[Maggie Freeling]

In Tom's final piece, broadcast in 2012, Tom says he was left with the sense that something was rotten in Mayfield, even if he could never get to the bottom of it. I've grappled with all of this in my many calls with my trusted source.

[Jeff Burton]

Dara Wolman from Jump Street. That's all I heard, was Lear, Lear, Lear. And I was like, okay. But everyone has tried to make him act like that there. He's the wizard behind the curtain, and I don't believe it.

[Maggie Freeling]

What if all of this shit about Ronnie Lear is just made up? Like, what if this is all just rumor? Just rumor?

[Jeff Burton]

Like, that's why I told you, like, gossip is the gospel in the south, baby girl.

And so everyone for so long has told themselves the same story and the same story and the same story. This was a crime that wasn't meant to be solved.

[Maggie Freeling]

And Joe Curran has had to reckon with these rumors surrounding his daughter's death. Do you think he could be involved?

[Jeff Burton]

Most people that I talk to that's around here feel like he is, but I don't know.

[Maggie Freeling]

My team and I have gone back and forth on whether to present the details of these allegations. But if there's something that has been made clear in my reporting of this case is that the stories we tell matter in our communities, in the courts, and in the press. There's a danger in trying to write a neat ending for a murder case that in many ways seems so senseless.

And the need to find someone to blame can come at a great cost to the lives of people like Tamara Caldwell, Jeff Burton, and Quincy Cross.

But what I do know is that the incompetence and corruption from Ronnie Lear and his police department tainted the investigation into Jessica's death from the start. It added to the countless allegations that law enforcement had to parse through in order to separate fact from fiction. It bred mistrust around town, leaving the doors window wide open for someone like Susan Galbraith to come in and test her theories. And it meant prosecutors under pressure to close an eight year old case pushed to get a conviction at all costs, ignoring the fact that the truth may actually be impossible to find.

And so, after 25 years of looking for answers, Joe Curran has none, just daily reminders of the void his daughter's death has left in his life. How do you feel now?

[Jeff Burton]

You survive it. You never get over it. Don't let nobody ever tell you you get closure because you're going to always miss a person like that the rest of your life. There is no such thing as closure.

[Maggie Freeling]

More after the break.

[Sophie Cunningham]

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly, or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability and concentration issues, it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'tsleep on OSA.com this information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.

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[Jeff Burton]

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[Maggie Freeling]

I end this investigation with more questions than answers about who may have killed Jessica Curran and why. But my goal was to find out if there was any truth to Tamara, Jeff, and Quincy's claims of innocence. And I think I could say with certainty that based on all the evidence I've presented to you, I do not believe they're guilty of the crime the prosecution accused and convicted them of. Still, Quincy lingers in prison. Getting out has been a slow moving fight riddled with setbacks.

In late 2024, Miranda Hellman, Quincy's attorney, left the Kentucky Innocence Project. I mean, okay, so many questions. Are you okay?

[Jeff Burton]

So do you want the kind of.

[Advertisement Voice]

Quick version of the story?

[Maggie Freeling]

While I was surprised by the news, the discontent leading to Miranda leaving had been building for a minute. Miranda became frustrated by the lack of resources to properly work her cases, big ones like Quincy's. Miranda says this was further complicated by how entangled the Kentucky Innocence Project is with the state legislature.

[Advertisement Voice]

So while we have our own independent structure and we don't necessarily have to answer for everything we do or the cases we take or how we litigate them, we're completely funded by the state. So what legislators see and what judges see and what people with power see matters when we ask for money.

[Maggie Freeling]

It especially matters when people like Miranda are accusing top law enforcement, like the prosecutors who tried Quincy's case of malfeasance.

[Advertisement Voice]

They see that someone that they signed off on a salary for is saying that the prosecutors at the highest level are committing perjury and committing felonies and are putting people in prison and lying about why they put them there. And so at the end of the day, my boss's boss's boss's boss has to answer to that, either publicly at a legislative hearing, or just in an informal meeting where they're sitting there talking to the heads of these other departments.

[Maggie Freeling]

Like the Department of Corrections or the Kentucky State Police, which are all run under the same umbrella as the Kentucky Innocence Project. And while Miranda was never told point blank to drop her accusations, she says the funding for her cases slowly dwindled.

[Advertisement Voice]

They start taking your purse strings away. They start taking your positions away. We haven't had an investigator in nearly a year. You know, as they start taking your resources, there's just nothing that you can do.

[Maggie Freeling]

It makes the uphill battle of proving a wrongful conviction even steeper. But even without Miranda, Quincy's case carries on. And the Kentucky Innocence Project is still fighting to get his conviction overTurned.

In early 2025, Quincy's new attorney got results from ink testing on the diary that Victoria read from at trial, the diary the prosecutors used as evidence that she had been an accomplice to the crime and that Victoria later said was fake.

The results aren't a slam dunk yet, but they're promising. According to an affidavit from a forensic chemist of over 20 years, there is no evidence that the ink used to write the key diary entries read at trial was available for use before 2000, seven years after Jessica's death. This same expert, who currently serves with the Department of Homeland Security, was actually called as a witness at the first trial by the prosecution execution, but now is working with Quincy's defense team.

Then DNA test results came in from hairs found on Jessica's body at autopsy, which hadn't been previously tested. And the results completely exclude Quincy, Tamara or Jeff from all testing done. This means nothing forensically tested from the scene at the middle school school or from Jessica's body itself has ever linked Quincy, Tamara or Jeff to the crime.

[Jeff Burton]

There's no evidence, there is no physical evidence that put Quincy nowhere near this girl.

[Maggie Freeling]

None of this comes as a surprise to Quincy's dad, David Cross, and the other people.

[Jeff Burton]

They didn't know each other. I've never heard of such. I'm 70 years old and I don't. I have never heard of three people that didn't know each other get convicted of a heinous crime like this.

[Maggie Freeling]

And none of this comes as a surprise to Quincy.

[Jeff Burton]

I knew they ain't really have nothing on me, so I ain't really. I'm feeling the same way I always felt. I ain't never, you know, I ain't committed no crime. So it's just. I'm glad that the truth is coming now, you know what I'm saying? That does me some good. My heart to know that, you know, a lot of things that they were saying was just lies put in front of a jury.

[Maggie Freeling]

Quincy has had a lot of time to think about what and who landed him behind bars. But when it comes to Venetia Stubblefield and Victoria Caldwell, Quincy says there's no ill will.

[Jeff Burton]

I don't be in tease at the time. She, you know, I don't hold no goods with them. It's just. It's the people that they told the last four is who I'm having a problem with. You see what I'm saying? I'm having a problem with the state of Kentucky.

[Maggie Freeling]

Quincy's attorneys have presented all their findings in court. And now he waits for the same judicial system that put him behind bars to decide if he deserves a second chance at proving his innocence.

And Quincy's loved ones Including Dara. Wait with him.

[Jeff Burton]

I believe that he is innocent with my whole heart. If so, I would have left y' all and everybody else the fuck alone a long time ago.

I'm ready to move on with my life, but I can. I've grown to love this family too much.

And regardless of his innocence or guilt, he didn't have a fair trial. And that's what I stand behind, is if we don't have a correct judicial system, then we have nothing but anarchy.

[Maggie Freeling]

And Dara waits because she says she's honor bound to David Cross.

[Jeff Burton]

David, whenever we originally got in touch, I was like, I promise you and offer you nothing at all, except for maybe a little bit of hope and persistence and a lot of fun personality.

That's it. That's all I offer. And the fact that I won't quit until we get to the end, whatever the end looks like, I have no clue. But I'm not going anywhere. And I got you. And that's what my family says, as opposed to I love you. We always say, I got you. And to me, that's the most important thing is I got him.

[Maggie Freeling]

Tamara and Jeff have both been out of prison for more than a decade, but their convictions hang over them every day, souring their freedom.

Jeff Burton works at his family cafe serving chicken casseroles and Western omelets alongside his mom.

[Jeff Burton]

Yeah, that's the greatest woman. It truly, truly is.

[Maggie Freeling]

Getting a good job with a serious felony conviction or even getting a job at all is nearly impossible.

[Jeff Burton]

This is a blessing. It really, truly is. Because, I mean, it is hard to get a job.

[Maggie Freeling]

Before Jeff got caught up in this case, he was a young husband and a dad of three.

[Jeff Burton]

I was straight and narrow. I wasn't doing nothing. I was trying to be a good.

[Maggie Freeling]

Father, getting his life in order, trying.

[Jeff Burton]

To be a family man, just trying to do that. That's all I really focused on. Making sure the kids had a great, you know, good Christmas or stuff like that.

[Maggie Freeling]

But Jeff's marriage didn't survive his prison sentence. And as he's talking about that time, his hands get shaky and his voice quivers.

[Jeff Burton]

Cause, I mean, man, this shit really fucked my life up. It really did. And, you know, I was in prison seven years, and it really did ruin my life. So that's why I get all. Because some girls lied. There's no nothing to prove anything except for what they said.

[Maggie Freeling]

And that's.

Like Quincy. Jeff's family has stood by him all along.

[Jeff Burton]

They sacrificed a lot when I was.

[Maggie Freeling]

In the penitentiary, especially his mom, you.

[Jeff Burton]

Know, she'd always come see me if my ex wife and kids can come. She'd make sure I had a visit, kept money on the phone, everything, you know what I mean? She was there, man.

[Maggie Freeling]

So.

[Jeff Burton]

Which I've always been pretty close to my mama.

[Maggie Freeling]

Tamara also struggles with life after prison. If you go back to 2006, 2005, and you never got wrapped up in this, what do you think your life would be like today?

[Jeff Burton]

I wouldn't be in Mayfield. Yep. Yep. I sure wouldn't be in Kentucky.

Sure wouldn't.

[Maggie Freeling]

Tamara has had a hard time getting a job because of her conviction, but like Jeff, she's got support. Today at 45, she cleans and paints houses for a friend's company.

[Jeff Burton]

Mainly the. The projects, the housing authorities. Okay, yes, mainly when they move out, I clean them first and then I paint them.

[Maggie Freeling]

She's close with her mom, Brenda and her children. The last time I visited Tamara was December 2024, and they were getting ready for Christmas.

[Jeff Burton]

They always want me to cook the dang sweet potatoes.

[Maggie Freeling]

Oh, you're making the sweet potatoes. Yes, it's a simple life, a good and honest one. But if Tamra could have written her own ending, she says maybe she would have gone back to school after her three kids were grown. She would have liked to be a nurse or a weather person. But despite all she's been through, Tamara has told me a few times that she's lucky. Even though you had five and a half years of your life taken away, you still think you're lucky.

[Jeff Burton]

Yep. Yep. Sure do. I'm here for a reason. Got he ain't through with me yet. He's not through with me yet.

[Maggie Freeling]

Quincy's dad, David, shares this sentiment. Is there ever a time during this last decade that you've lost hope at all?

[Jeff Burton]

No, no, no, I can't. I can't imagine losing hope. I have to think that something good is going to come out of this. His life is worth. Is worth that. If it's not worth nothing else, it's worth something good coming out of this. No, I can't imagine losing hope.

[Maggie Freeling]

But David seems to have weathered. Since I first met him in 2023, he's grown older, waiting for his son. And the last time we spoke in person, the reality of that was on his mind.

[Jeff Burton]

The only fear I got, that I won't live to see Quincy walk out of prison. That's my only fear in life.

You know, that's my goal.

[Maggie Freeling]

Until he's free again, Quincy's family lives on hope and memories do it.

[Jeff Burton]

Don't wanna be so serious.

[Maggie Freeling]

When I first met Quincy's family, his sister Rochelle was there. She's one of Quincy's six sisters, and she was beaming at the chance to tell the world about her brother, about their childhood running free in rural Tennessee.

[Jeff Burton]

You know, we're from the south, so Grandma's backyard was the playground. Trees, swings, jumping ditches.

[Maggie Freeling]

I think Rochelle remembers weekend dances, parties in a house full of kids and life. We enjoyed it.

[Jeff Burton]

We love. We was a family that loved to get together on Saturday mornings and just.

[Maggie Freeling]

Get in the living room and just dance and have fun.

[Jeff Burton]

And cut up. That was our thing. Yo, MTV Raps was on.

[Maggie Freeling]

And I'm going tell you something.

[Jeff Burton]

Quincy.

He would pop, lock, break dance. He would turn on his head and, you know, we couldn't do that.

[Maggie Freeling]

Like, what kind of music would you.

Quincy was her ride or die. Rochelle says, whatever it came to be, Quincy was there.

[Jeff Burton]

I need a babysitter because I want to go to the club. Quincy was there.

[Maggie Freeling]

That's the type of people we are.

[Jeff Burton]

You know, we come from nothing. But we had love.

[Maggie Freeling]

This year, Quincy turned 49. Another birthday away from home. 19 of them. One day, Quincy would like to leave Kentucky, move back to Tennessee. I picture him on the porch of his childhood home, sitting next to his father, all quiet and still, except for the sound of cicadas and the occasional laughter of his nieces and nephews running by, playing with tadpoles just like he used to years ago in those very same fields.

But for now, Quincy is content that you got to hear his story.

[Jeff Burton]

I want the world to see, and I want them to look at the facts. Better yet, I want them to look at everything, everything about this case. Because, you know, I'd have been through some hell trying to get the truth out. And now that I got an opportunity to get it out, it makes everything a whole lot better.

Yeah, it makes. It makes everything a whole lot better for me.

That's what I want. The world.

[Maggie Freeling]

Thank you for using Securus.

[Jeff Burton]

Goodbye.

[Maggie Freeling]

Graves county is a production of Lava for Good in association with Signal Company Number One. This show is written and produced by me, Maggie Freeling, and senior producer Rebecca Ibarra. Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler and Kevin Werdis are executive producers. Our editor is Martina Abraham Ilunga. Dania Suleiman is our fact checker. Sound design and mixing by Joe Plord. Music created by Wrench. Our theme song is the gangsta grass version of the One who's Holding the Star by Leo Schofield. And Kevin Herrick. Dara Wolman is investigative producer. Our head of Marketing and operations is Jeff Clyburn. Ismani Guadarama is our Social Media Director and our Social Media Manager is Sarah Gibbons. Andrew Nelson is Art Director with additional production help from Jackie Pauley, Kara Kornhaber, and Kathleen Fink. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and threads lavaforgood and follow me at Maggie Freeling and We know there's a lot of names for you to keep up with in this series, so for a detailed list of characters, please go to our Show Notes.

[Jeff Burton]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability and concentration issues, it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don't sleep on osa.com. this information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.